Monday, December 11, 2023

‘Look how busy Haworth is and how long ago the Brontë sisters died’

On Monday, December 11, 2023 at 7:29 am by Cristina in , , , ,    No comments
The Times features theatre director Emma Rice.
She survived a very public early exit from running Shakespeare’s Globe. She got through a hoo-ha about winning Arts Council funding for the theatre company she set up immediately afterwards. And after that, Emma Rice’s company prospered with her rambunctious yet heartfelt reinventions of old stories such as Angela Carter’s Wise Children (also the name of the company), Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.
Yet last year Rice decided it was time to shut up shop. Wuthering Heights was still touring, indeed playing to more people than any other Wise Children show, in Britain and beyond. It got rave reviews too. But putting on theatre at the tail end of Covid was hard. And Rice ran into what felt like an endless series of “trip hazards”, as she calls them as she sits with me in (spoiler alert: happy ending ahoy) Wise Children’s cosy new permanent home in Frome, Somerset. (Dominic Maxwell)
The Telegraph has an article on Holmfirth, a small town in West Yorkshire which owes its popularity to the TV show Last of the Summer Wine.
But [Laura Booth, who has owned Sid’s Cafe, a key location in Last of the Summer Wine, for 17 years] worries about the future. “Last of the Summer Wine isn’t in that prime-time slot any more but it’s part of TV history. Colin, the coach driver, said, years ago, ‘Look how busy Haworth is and how long ago the Brontë sisters died.’ Hopefully we can stick around as long as they have.” (Emma Sibbles)
Woman's World recommends and ranks some classic films available of Amazon Prime.
7. Wuthering Heights (1939)
Emily Brontë’s classic novel comes to life in this fantastic period romance-drama that is, trust us, much more engrossing than skimming through the book’s CliffsNotes. It stars Merle Oberon as Cathy, Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff and David Niven, who complicates things, of course, as Edgar Linton.
The film won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, and it was nominated for  seven others (including for Olivier and director William Wyler). As its original New York Times review notes, “It is, unquestionably, one of the most distinguished pictures of the year, one of the finest ever produced by Mr. [Samuel] Goldwyn, and one you should decide to see.” (Ron Kelly)
AnneBrontë.org features 'Charlotte Brontë’s Fascinating Letter To Hartley Coleridge'.
12:30 am by M. in ,    No comments

In the heart of Florence, Italy, a unique bookstore named Jane & Edward has opened its doors, offering a distinct blend of literature, cinema, and cuisine1. The name of the bookstore echoes the classic novel, Jane Eyre, adding a touch of literary charm to the establishment1. The bookstore is the brainchild of Davide (Edward) and Valentina (Jane), a couple united by their shared passion for reading1. Their mission is to help people find the right book - the one that offers a completely immersive experience, the one you can’t stop thinking about even when you’re not reading it.

Jane & Edward is more than just a bookstore. It’s a place where culture is promoted as a means to improve society. The founders believe that every person has a perfect book waiting for them, and they dedicate themselves to making these perfect matches. They view their bookstore as a neighborhood establishment, yet one that can reach you wherever you are.

In addition to a wide range of general literature, Jane & Edward specializes in books about cinema and cooking1. They put particular effort into finding and recommending the best books in these areas, including noteworthy new releases and indispensable classics.

Jane & Edward is located at Via Boccherini 27 A, 50144 Firenze. You can reach them at 0555320445 or via email at ciao@libreria-jane-e-edward.it.

Sources: 
La Nazione (December 6, 2023)
La Nacione (May 26, 2022)

This article has been written with the help of Open AI's GPT-4.

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Sunday, December 10, 2023 11:24 am by M. in , , , , ,    No comments
Classic books to loan from the library this Christmas on Her Campus:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. 
Dark, passionate, love, revenge. Best suited to English weather. (Miriam Blanchard)
The Guardian reviews Stuffed: A History of Good Food and Hard Times in Britain by Pen Vogler:
In a conclusion, in which she tries to draw things together and to look to the future, Vogler worries away at 21st-century food poverty. Somehow, though, it feels like her heart isn’t quite in it. She seems much happier quoting Charlotte Brontë or Izaak Walton than Michael Pollan or some parliamentary select committee; those who want to read about ultra-processed food should go elsewhere.  (Rachel Cooke)
The birth of new words discussed in Millennium Post (India):
Taking as our inspiration such gifted wordsmiths as George Eliot and Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë and Dorothy Wordsworth, perhaps we can distil some helpful principles – some new rules, to do a Dua Lipa — for sculpting a vocabulary to describe the surreal realities that will surely come to define tense and trying times. (...)
Charlotte Brontë was a genius of such curiously compelling compounds. To her, it is likely we owe the origin of ‘self-doubt’ and ‘Wild-West’ as well as that activity to which many of us have found ourselves suddenly engaging with obsessive vigour: ‘spring-clean’, which Brontë niftily neologised in a letter she wrote in April 1848. (Kaushikibrata Banerjee)
Rachael Stirling writes about her mother's, Diana Rigg's, final days in The Observer:
Over the last five months I have been going through a vast tin trunk referred to as Pandora’s box. It was sent over from India with her when she was small. It is now stuffed to the brim with cuttings and interviews, reviews and magazine covers spanning her career from her first appearance as a sick Emily Brontë in a school play (covered in green powder for bilious effect and coughing all through everyone else’s lines) to the early 1980s, when the curator of the archive, her mother Mrs Beryl Rigg, suddenly died from a bleedout on the operating table.
Where do the Condé Nast Traveller editors go for Christmas?: 
Cornwall, England
Although I’ve lived in London for the past seven years, I will always call Cornwall my ‘real’ home. I’m fortunate to have parents heralding from the picturesque county and, having been brought up on the Wuthering Heights-esque moorlands of Bodmin, have a true appreciation of what the countryside has to offer beyond the postcard-perfect scenery it’s famed for.  (Lucy Bruton, Social media manager)
CaTine (Romania) looks for the best literary character for each Zodiac sign using the usual mumbo jumbo:
Catherine Earnshaw din Wuthering Heights este personajul potrivit pentru zodia Scorpionului. Romanul este considerat și astăzi o capodoperă a ficțiunii gotice. Catherine este un personaj umplut cu o emoție crudă și o neliniște apăsătoare. Este un personaj misterios, sensibil, dar foarte intens. Toate aceste trăsături o fac pe Catherine să fie o reprezentată perfectă a nativilor din zodia Scorpionului. (Beatrice Ioana) (Translation)
El País (Spain) reviews the documentary Una vida Bárbara:
Sin embargo, desde hace unas semanas me siento como un espectro enloquecido gritando en un páramo vacío, algo así como Merle Oberon en Cumbres borrascosas, cada vez que en redes sociales comparto algunas de las declaraciones que Bárbara Rey vierte sin tapujos en el documental Una vida bárbara (Óscar Bernàcer, 2023). (Esther López Barceló) (Translation

Several news outlets discuss the third position achieved by Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier with her Wuthering Heights choreography at the recent Beijing Grand Prix Final (ice skating): France24, fgsk8, Japan Today...  NRK (Norway) also mentions Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights as appearing in TV show Maskerade.

12:30 am by M. in , ,    No comments
 A new Brontë-related paper recently published:
Madalina Elena Mandici, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi
American & British Studies Annual, 16, 59–71 (2023)

Despite the secure position of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847) in academic and popular culture, the novel may not seem the first choice for a work that features both conventionally appealing characters and reliable narrators as well as modern delineations of class, gender, and race. This study argues that in Wuthering Heights reading, writing, education, and learning resist a unified interpretation, but nonetheless can provide a compass for navigating its unwieldy narrative. In the novel, the landed gentry is above the law of state, and women are at all stages disadvantaged. These depictions come in a continuous social spectrum: the woman who annotates sacred books to write her own story and chooses the cultured gentry but denies her own rough, wild nature (Catherine I), the woman exposed to culture from the cradle who educates the illiterate in a reconciliatory educator-disciple matrimony (Catherine II), the housekeeper born into the servile classes who moves beyond the limits imposed by gentility and social segregation, and has exclusive access to all the personal and social histories embedded within Wuthering Heights (Nelly Dean).

Saturday, December 09, 2023

Saturday, December 09, 2023 1:12 pm by M. in , , , ,    No comments
Krytyka Polityczna (Poland) reviews Emily 2022 and also retells a good deal of the Brontë story:
Czy w drugiej dekadzie XXI wieku publiczność nie jest gotowa na film o dziewiętnastowiecznej pisarce, który nie przedstawia jej życia w konwencji komedii romantycznej lub melodramatu?
Autorka Wichrowych wzgórz Emily Brontë jest na łożu śmierci. Pochyla się nad nią jej starsza siostra, Charlotte, i natarczywie pyta: „Jak to możliwe, że napisałaś taką książkę? Jest niemoralna i pełna zepsucia! Na pewno coś przede mną ukrywasz!”. Tak wygląda pierwsza scena filmu Emily w reżyserii Frances O’Connor, który od niedawna jest dostępny na platformie HBO Max.
Jak domyśli się każdy widz znający konwencje kina biograficznego, Charlotte ma rację. W życiu Emily jest wielka tajemnica, która może dostarczyć odpowiedzi na pytanie, jak cicha i nieśmiała stara panna, która prawie całe życie spędziła w małej wiosce w Yorkshire, mogła napisać powieść tak przepełnioną emocjami: obsesyjną miłością, toksyczną zazdrością i okrucieństwem. Po otwierającej scenie pozostała część filmu ma formę długiej retrospekcji, która udziela odpowiedzi na pytanie Charlotty. (...) (Read more) (Anna Gutowska) (Translation)
The Telegraph & Argus highlights film and TV locations in West Yorkshire:
“Finding Oakwell Hall hidden down a lane in Birstall, West Yorkshire, comes as quite a surprise,” explains Filmed in Yorkshire.
“Built in 1583, it is a rare example of an Elizabethan manor house set in 100 acres of country park and has delighted visitors for centuries, including Charlotte Brontë.” (Molly Court)
The Guardian also mentions that Knebworth House (in Hertfordshire) was one of the locations of Jane Eyre 1997.
 
The novelist Daisy Goodwin and the big sister syndrome in The Times:
Younger siblings can misbehave with impunity, but the oldest one, if she’s a girl that is, knows that everything is her fault. Wendy Darling is the older sister who tries to fix Peter Pan by sewing on his shadow. Think of the contrast between Queen Elizabeth II, the archetypal dutiful older sister, and Princess Margaret, who didn’t conceal her boredom at a lifetime of opening leisure centres in Woking. But the Queen would talk to her sister every day, even when Margaret was at her most wilful. Charlotte Brontë became an older sister to Branwell, Emily and Anne after her two eldest sisters died, and she was the one who persuaded her sisters to publish their novels alongside hers.
Songs that quote classical literature in American Songwriter:
“Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush
“Wuthering Heights” is the first single by Kate Bush. Released in 1978, the song takes its name from the Emily Brontë novel, published in 1847. Bush was inspired by the film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which she saw on TV as a child. The song is written from the point of view of Cathy Linton, who calls out to Heathcliff, a man she is forced to marry, When I needed to possess you / I hated you, I loved you, too. The novel was controversial in its time, challenging class, morality, and religion.
Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy I’ve come home, I’m so cold Let me in your window
Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy I’ve come home, I’m so cold Let me in your window. (Thom Donovan)
and on the same website a list of the top Celine Dion power ballads:
“It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”
If you’ve ever read Wuthering Heights, you know that it’s, well, intense. The novel and its ill-fated romance between Cathy and Heathcliff inspired the song “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.” Specifically, it was the disturbing scene where Heathcliff digs up Cathy’s body that inspired Jim Steinman to pen this morose love song. Dion sings with everything she has in this one (but doesn’t she always?). (Savannah Dantona)
Saskatoon StarPhoenix talks about phrenology:
Phrenology became all the rage and even writers such as Walt Whitman, Emily Brontë, Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle bought into the craze. (Joe Schwarcz)
Probably Charlotte was a much better example than Emily.

The Wall Street Journal talks about the Spotify Wrapped Playlist with an ironic perspective:
Spotify Wrapped-like postings could be introduced for many other pursuits and get much the same response from the implacably mean-spirited. When you try to impress people by describing the five “classics” you most enjoyed reading last year, someone will point out that the book’s title is “Wuthering Heights,” not “Withering,” and that the House of Usher does not refer to the singer. Anyway, what kind of loser still reads Edgar Allan Poe? (Joe Queenan)
Mariana Enríquez en La Razón (México):
"Hay una línea muy impresionante, incluso en la literatura anglosajona, de ‘mujeres y lo fantástico’. Está Mary Shelley con Frankenstein, además de las hermanas Brontë. Todas las historias de fantasmas son, en esos momentos, escritas por mujeres". (Mariana Del Vergel) (Translation)
Capri Notizie (Italy) recommends Jane Eyre for young readers:
Inoltre, non si può non menzionare “Jane Eyre” di Charlotte Brontë, un romanzo gotico che racconta la storia di una giovane governante innamorata del suo datore di lavoro e che affronta temi come la condizione delle donne dell’epoca vittoriana e la ricerca dell’indipendenza. (Anna D'Allessandro) (Translation)
Education quotes, including one by Charlotte, in La Mente es Maravillosa (in Spanish). Proper Manchester mentions that the Portico Library has a collection that includes a first edition of Jane Eyre,
12:44 am by Cristina in , ,    No comments
by Diane Browning. Illustrations by Diane Browning
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 978-1-5381-7231-5
First of all, we must admit to always being a bit wary of books for young adults as they often use a patronising, condescending tone, so we started reading The Brontës of Haworth Moor by Diane Browning somewhat cautiously. Our fears were soon dispelled. In fact, we concluded that not only is this the perfect introduction to the Brontë world for any bookish young adult but also for any adult just wanting to dip their toes into the world of the Brontës. It's a straightforward account of a sometimes not that straightforward story. It pulls out all the stops.

It's not a fictionalised account of the story but told in factual terms, with the occasional comment on what a person might or might not be feeling or thinking, but pretty reined-in if you take into account some of the Brontë biographies for adults of the last few years (some of which presume to know even motives for doing things, etc.). It starts with a prologue in which Charlotte and Anne shed their anonymity in the London office of George Smith but the actual story begins with the young Brontë family making their way across the moors from Thornton to Haworth (although later on it will look back briefly on the backgrounds of Patrick and Maria, their courtship and early years).

The author's intent is stated in an author's note at the beginning:
I have tried to write a biography. not emphasizing gloom and doom, but showing the Brontë siblings as the vibrant, hopeful, and often happy young people they were. This is a story for young people, showing the commonality of youth, no matter the time period or situation.

 And we must say she excells at doing that. That's not to say that she shirks the heartbreak and sadness of the story, but she doesn't revel in it and manages to catch the bounciness of spirit of childhood and early adulthood pretty well. That doesn't mean either that--like many Brontë books intended for young adults before--her main focus is on the childhood and on the scribblemania phase. She has fun with that, of course, but she doesn't make it longer than needed and the pace moves equally throughout their lives.

And, most importantly, that doesn't mean that she avoids controversial subjects or--worse--looks at them from 21st-century glasses. We were quite impressed with how she succeeded in contextualising things and showing readers that, to quote L.P. Hartley, 'The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there'. And so, for instance, Robert Southey's letter to Charlotte is taken in its stride, not passively, but not aggressively either. The harsh conditions of Cowan Bridge, the deaths of their mother and their siblings, Emily's breakdown in Roe Head, Charlotte's infatuation with a married man and Branwell's affair with a married woman and subsequent alcoholism are not glossed over or dealt with in judgemental terms, simply told in a straightforward manner: 'this is what happened'.

And that thoroughness and lack of judgement for a group of people who lived in a world with different sets of rules but who, however, had the same basic human emotions is quite remarkable and the reason why we consider it to be a quite good introduction into the world of Brontë biography.ç

That's helped visually by the lovely cut paper illustrations by the author herself throughout the book which pretty much capture the spirit of the book: apparently simple (as we know it takes quite an effort to achieve simplicity) but nevertheless quite moving.

Our only qualm comes from the fact that the book might have benefited from a more thorough revision: Maria Brontë is said to have died in August 1821 when she actually died in September of that year, for instance. And some spelling mistakes such as Hebdon Bridge.

But all in all, we were pretty dazzled by what we found and which we weren't expecting. It's a fair, lively take on the lives of the Brontës. And some Brontë biographers might as well take a leaf from Diane Browning's book: her open-minded approach, her respect both for her subjects and potential readers, her understanding of family dynamics and basic human emotions all make for both entertaining and enlightening reading.

Friday, December 08, 2023

Far Out Magazine explores literature’s weirdest female deaths:
Women in literature suffer. Whether it’s at the hands of villains, lovers, or bad writing – their role is, more often than not, coloured by some sense of tragedy, and nowhere is that more evident than in writing from around the 19th century. While it was a period marked by progress and great books and novelists emerged from it – the likes of Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Mary Shelley – the female perspective is sorely lacking from many a death scene. (Poppy Burton)
Columbia News interviews the brand new Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Professor of the Humanities in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Edwidge Danticat:
Eve Glasberg: What was your path to a career that embraces academia and writing?
E.D.: At Barnard, I was enamored, like so many were, with the late English Literature and Africana Studies Professor Quandra Prettyman. I remember going to her office one day after I wrote a terrible paper on Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and she asked me what I read in school that I loved when I was a kid. I said Voltaire's Candide because we read it at school in Haiti when I was 11. She was very impressed by something I had completely taken for granted. Impressing her became a kind of passion for me. I went home and reread Candide that day, and ended up majoring in French literature.
Collider lists Michael Fassbender's 'most underrated movies': 
Jane Eyre 2011
Cary Fukunagua’s gripping retelling of the classic novel Jane Eyre shows a more romantic side to Fassbender than he is seldom allowed to portray. Fassbender stars as Edward Rochester, the lonesome Byronic hero who becomes the target of Jane Eyre’s (Mia Wasikowska) affection. Fukunaga delicately hints at the sexual tension between them through many sequences where the two characters are separated or do not speak. It’s a credit to Fassbender and Wasikowska's excellent chemistry that the friction between the characters is so compelling.
Although the classic novel has been adapted to the screen several times, Fukunagua's Jane Eyre might just be the definitive version. The film's melancholy tone, Wasikowska's performance, and the score received moderate attention in 2011, but overall, Jane Eyre got overshadowed due to the absolutely stacked line-up Fassbender had that year - he also starred in X-Men: First Class, A Dangerous Method, and Shame, all of which pretty much eclipsed any chance Jane Eyre had. (Liam Gaughan)
SheBudgets lists the most influential books of all-time:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Emily Brontë died only a year after her only novel was published, which is a crying shame as her talent is immeasurable. In Wuthering Heights, we follow the story of Heathcliff, a man so in love with a woman by the name of Catherine that he is willing to destroy anyone and anything that comes in between him and the love of his life. The story of true love is epic and unforgettable, and it’s the perfect example of the power that greed and jealousy has over a person’s life and its destructive abilities. (Camille Moore)
The Conversation (in Spanish) focuses on Virginia Woolf as a journalist: 
A los 22 años, Virginia Woolf publica su primer artículo en The Guardian. Una edad en la que muchos de los jóvenes periodistas de hoy están aún haciendo prácticas. Su amiga Violet Dickinson le presenta a la redactora jefe del suplemento femenino –la única puerta de entrada para una mujer que aspira al periodismo en aquella época– y Virginia le propone colaborar. Primero publica una reseña sobre el novelista americano W.D. Howells y luego el artículo, titulado “Peregrinaje a Haworth”, aparece sin firma en el mes de diciembre de 1904. En él, Virginia relata su visita al presbítero Haworth Parsonage, donde vivieron las hermanas Brontë. Así inicia su carrera como periodista. (María Santos-Saiz) (Translation)
La Voz de Galicia (in Galician) lists the favourite books of the year and includes the first ever translation to Galician of Jane Eyre:
Jane Eyre. O inesquecible personaxe, o clásico incuestionable da literatura inglesa e unha das grandes obras de Charlotte Brontë —que viu a luz baixo o pseudónimo de Currer Bell— está en hora boa porque goza dunha casa fermosa que lle construíu Irmás Cartoné nunha exemplar e coidadísima tradución ao galego a cargo de Celia Recarey. A editorial cumpre xa dez anos de vida cun catálogo de traducións que, tempo é de dicilo, constitúe un orgullo colectivo. (Ramón Nicolás) (Translation)
The Epoch Times (Germany) and the pleasures of reading:
 Ich kenne ein ähnliches Gefühl. So erinnern mich die felsigen Strände eines Sees in Nordamerika an „Jane Eyre“ von Charlotte Brontë. An diesem Ort beschäftigte ich mich zum ersten Mal mit dem Klassiker der viktorianischen Romanliteratur. (Annie Holmquist) (Translation)
Die Welt (Germany) and couple separation:
Es ist die ultimative Geschichte über Hoffnung – oder aber, nüchterner betrachtet, von Abhängigkeit und verschwendeten Lebenskräften. In Emily Brontës „Sturmhöhe“ geht das Nachhängen alter Träume sogar so weit, dass der liebeswahnsinnige Heathcliff seine Cathy aus dem Grab ausbuddelt – ein Anblick, den er nicht lange überlebt. Das Festhalten an alten Gefühlen wird hier nicht nur metaphorisch, sondern wortwörtlich zum Klammern an den Tod. Auch Goethes Werther geht bekanntermaßen daran zugrunde, dass er an einer verlorenen Liebe festhält. (Lena Karger) (Translation)
Micromega (Italy) discusses Maryse Condé's La Migration des Coeurs:
Prende un classico della Letteratura europea, Cime tempestose di Emily Brontë, e lo trasferisce al Caribe. Il risultato è eccezionale, pare che al romanzo della Brontë sia stato iniettato un qualche tipo di steroide, esso si è inturgidito, è rigoglioso, mentre smorto slavato appare ormai il suo modello. (...) La vicenda è presto detta: si racconta la storia d’amore fra Razyé e Cathy (per la Brontë erano Heathcliff e Catherine), di natura tanto selvaggia che come ciclone travolge ed eradica qualunque cosa gli sbarri il cammino, e le cui conseguenze si propagano ancora per le generazioni successive, condizionandone l’esistenza. (...) La celebre struttura a scatole cinesi di Cime tempestose viene mantenuta anche nel rifacimento, in cui però assume – staremmo per dire – un valore quasi politico. (Andrea Maffei) (Translation)

Matching Opening Lines to Classical Novels in BookRiot, including The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Žinių radiją (Lithuania)'s radio programme Savaitės knygų apžvalga (next Saturday 9, 15.30h) will include a review of Villette. Cimacnoticias (México) mentions the pseudonyms used by the Brontës.

Another Jane Eyre retelling with a witchy flavour has just been published:
by Sharon Lynn Fisher 
47North (An Amazon imprint)
December 1, 2023

A gifted healer unravels the mysteries of a cursed estate―and its enigmatic owner―in a witchy retelling of Jane Eyre.

Salt and broom, make this room
Safe and tight, against the night.

Trunks packed with potions and cures, Jane Ai
re sets out on a crisp, clear morning in October to face the greatest challenge of her sheltered girls’-school existence. A shadow lies over Thornfield Hall and its reclusive master, Edward Rochester. And he’s hired her only as a last resort.

Jane stumbles again and again as she tries to establish a rapport with her prickly new employer, but he becomes the least of her worries as a mysterious force seems to work against her. The threats mount around both Jane and Rochester―who’s becoming more intriguing and appealing to her by the day. Jane begins to fear her herb healing and protective charms may not be enough to save the man she’s growing to love from a threat darker and more dangerous than either of them imagined.

Thursday, December 07, 2023

Thursday, December 07, 2023 11:10 am by Cristina in , , ,    No comments
Arlington recommends '10 New Books to Read in December' and one of them is
Salt & Broom
By Sharon Lynn Fisher
A series of strange events at Thornfield Hall has Edward Rochester summoning a witch. When orphaned Jane Aire arrives, the two start off on the wrong foot, but Jane’s skills are desperately needed as the danger grows. The two grow closer as they unravel the mystery—is it a wronged fairy, or perhaps the ghost of Rochester’s late wife? This paranormal take on Jane Eyre is an atmospheric mystery filled with romance, with enough original twists to surprise even die-hard Brontë fans. (Jennifer Rothschild)
While Book Riot suggests 'The Best Classic Books (That Are Actually Worth a Read)'. 
Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang (1943)
Romance readers put off by the dense language of Jane Austen and the Brontës will want to snag a copy of this Chinese classic. (K.W. Colyard)
Diari de Tarragona (Spain) does recommend an actual Brontë novel on its list of 5 books by women to give for Christmas.
5. Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre és una nena pobra, òrfena i poc agraciada que viu amb la seva tieta, la miserable senyora Reed, la qual es mostra tothora cruel i insensible amb la seva neboda. Arran d’un atac de rebel·lia de la petita Jane, l’envia a l’escola Lowood, un internat on la noia creix a còpia d’humiliacions i maltractaments, fins que, havent superat els anys d’escola, decideix marxar per fer d’institutriu.
El destí la porta a Thornfield Hall, una enorme i misteriosa mansió on té la responsabilitat de fer-se càrrec de l’educació de la filla natural del propietari, el senyor Rochester. I tot comença a canviar quan l’amo descobreix inesperadament el plaer de conversar cada vespre amb la Jane, encisat per l’enginy d’ella i pel seu esperit decidit. (Glòria Aznar) (Translation)
The Harvard Gazette has an article on the efforts to try and solve the riddle of the authorship of The Bondwoman’s Narrative.
Over the years, literary scholars have noted Crafts’ interplay with works by Charles Dickens, Frederick Douglass, the Brontë sisters, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Hecimovich found further evidence that Crafts was forced to attend a minstrel show that parodied Stowe’s 1852 hit “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” (Christy DeSmith)
The blunder of the day comes from PRE's article on the same subject.
Since its publishing in 2003, much has been studied about the novel’s literary influences – like Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Emily Brontë’s Jane Eyre. The Bondwoman’s Narrative blends many of the popular genres at the time, mixing sentimental and gothic novels. (Ryan Shaffer)
2:12 am by M. in , ,    No comments

An alert from Lundsbrunn, Sweden, for tomorrow, December 8

Emily Brontë - The Blue Bell from Haworth
Lundsbrunns bygdegård, Västergatan 20 in Lundsbrunn
Friday, December 8
Time: at 7:00 p.m.

Concert, film screening and English apple pie in the December darkness with Lundsbrunn favorite Sofie Livebrant.
Sofie and Hal Parfitt-Murray have visited the nineteenth-century author Emily Jane Brontë and made a documentary film.
She became world famous for her novel Wuthering Heights and together Sofie and Hal perform music and poems about moors, passion, life and death.

Via Nya  Lidköpins-Tidningen.



Wednesday, December 06, 2023

The Arts Desk reviews the recent concerts of pianist Paul Lewis of Schubert's piano sonatas at Wigmore Hall:
Lewis’s Schubert is about essence and sublimity. Words cannot describe the sublime but we have to try, and might as well leave it to the experts: we are transported to a terrain described 18 years earlier that [the piano sonata] D.894 by William Wordsworth as “something far more deeply interfused / Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns”. Two decades later, in 1847, Emily Brontë would use the metaphor of the moor beyond the garden wall. We are invited to consider humanity’s inner and outer relationships to these things, and our death before their infinity, which in Schubert become intensely personal. And without consequence, though it is what it is. (Ed Vulliamy)
Make Shakespeare cool again in Her Campus:
I also think that the revival of classical literature should be extended past Shakespeare to other authors. Jane Austen, George Eliot, and the Brontë sisters all have extensive bodies of work that would make absolutely great movies for a wide array of audiences. Since everyone seems to be leaning into the frazzled English woman aesthetic, (ala 2000s Kate Winslet, Kiera Knightley, or Renee Zellweger) I think it would be fitting to adapt some more Victorian literature into the cinematic wheelhouse. (Giovanna Cicalesi)
The New Republic reviews The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love by Rachel Feder:
My first literary crush, as a preadolescent, was on Edward Fairfax Rochester, the sarcastic, beetle-browed hero of Jane Eyre, who formed my early beau ideal of what a romantic partner would be. Decades later, rereading Charlotte Brontë’s novel, I was taken aback to rediscover the scene where Rochester dresses up as a palm-reading “old crone” in a bonnet and cape and creepily interrogates Jane on her love life. Strange dude! (Kirsten Denker)
Parade assignates a classic literary heroine to each zodiac sign:
Cancer: Helen Huntingdon (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, 1848)
As the youngest Brontë sister’s second and final novel before her untimely death at 29, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a testament to her belief in women’s autonomy. It was considered shocking at the time of its release, as Brontë challenged many predominant morals of her era through the novel’s protagonist, Helen Huntingdon. Helen exhibits Cancer’s emotionally driven nature when she agrees to marry a man for love despite troubling glimpses of his deep-seated character flaws, thinking she’ll be able to “fix” him as his wife. However, once married, her husband abuses her, especially after the birth of their son. After years of poor treatment, Helen takes a stand, breaking the law and the social expectations of the time by fleeing with their son, determined to prevent him from becoming like his father. In leaving, she displays Cancer’s loving and protective nature by putting her son's needs before all else, retreating to the safety of their new home.
Scorpio: Catherine Earnshaw (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, 1847)
Emily Brontë’s only novel is widely regarded today as a masterpiece of Gothic fiction and the romantic prose tradition. The most poetically inclined of her sisters and fellow writers, Brontë filled the pages of Wuthering Heights, as well as the character of Catherine Earnshaw, with raw emotion and angst. Catherine epitomizes all things Scorpio; she’s passionate, emotional, and intense, especially when it comes to her doomed romance with Heathcliff. These two share a deep and powerful love, but it’s marred by Catherine’s preoccupation with social class, Heathcliff’s bitterness and vengeful obsession, and both of their insurmountable stubbornness. Scorpio’s journey is about relinquishing control to facilitate transformation. Her story sets a greater change in motion that allows the next generation to heal the wounds left by their parents.
Aquarius: Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, 1847)
Now regarded as one of the most famous romance novels ever, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre has stood the test of time thanks to its unforgettable titular protagonist. Jane Eyre manifests Aquarius’ humanitarian essence throughout the story as she is forced to contend with oppression, inequality, and hardship, yet upholds her personal convictions despite it all. Her strong belief in equality flies in the face of Victorian prejudices against women and the poor that were common for the era. Aquarius’ journey to fulfillment centers on achieving ultimate freedom, aligning it with Jane, who values freedom above all else. Her character arc throughout the story involves her struggle to gain the autonomy she desperately needs despite her circumstances. Only by staying true to herself and her integrity can Jane finally find peace and contentment. (Emily Bryn)
Times Now News selects 20 books "to read before you die". Among them:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is a pioneering work that follows the lives of its namesake heroine, highlighting her moral and spiritual development. Jane's journey through hard surroundings and her employment as a governess at Thornfield Hall, orphaned and impoverished, delivers a biting reflection on gender conventions and societal restraints in nineteenth-century England. Jane's character embodies dignity, intelligence, and integrity as she tackles themes of morality, religion, and women's freedom in the novel. "Jane Eyre" is a groundbreaking work in feminist literature because of Brontë's study of human liberty and the yearning for love and acceptance. (Girish Shukla)
The Telegraph & Argus lists things you can do in Bradford this Christmas:
Every year I take a trip to Haworth for the Festive Torchlight Procession. It’s really magical being out in a winter evening, with twinkling lights adorning the cobbled main street. Crowds gather, carrying torches, and children wave twinkling wands. Be sure to arrive early to gather around the Christmas tree before the procession starts at 4pm; there’s plenty of festive cheer with a brass band throughout the weekend and the village’s independent shops open late to buy those Christmas gifts. This year’s event is on Saturday, December 9 and Sunday, December 10.  (Shannon Palmer)
Also in T&A a recommendation:
TV presenter Anita Rani has praised a Bradford cafe where you can find Yorkshire parkin, homemade bread, and vegetarian delights. (...)
She celebrated the occasion at Plenty at the Square, a vegetarian and vegan cafe based at the South Square Centre in Thornton. (...)
She added: “It’s significant that it’s in Thornton because Thornton was the birthplace of the Brontës.” (Natasha Meek)
UK's best pubs serving Sunday roasts according to The Times
The Hawthorn, Haworth, West Yorkshire
In the Brontë sisters’ home patch of Haworth, this elegant townhouse has been renovated to resemble a period Georgian tavern, with wood-panelled walls, mounted stags’ heads, burnished furniture and grandfather clocks ticking away in the background — a nod to the local clockmaker John Barraclough, who lived here in the Brontës’ day. Meat and veg comes from hand-picked small farms across the Dales and the Lakes, and the portions are generous: sides include garlicky roasted potatoes, leeks and peas, cauliflower cheese and greens (£16-19; thehawthornhaworth.co.uk). Just up the street, Weavers of Haworth continues the Georgian vibe, with pretty period rooms.
The Review Geek lists books like Grim Fandango. For some reason Wuthering Heights is chosen:
Wuthering Heights, penned by Emily Brontë, is a timeless classic that delves into the tormented and passionate relationships of characters residing in the desolate moors of Yorkshire. Similar to Grim Fandango, Wuthering Heights weaves a dark and Gothic tale, exploring themes of love, revenge, and the supernatural. Both works captivate readers with their intense and complex characters, taking them on a journey through the depths of human emotions.
The atmospheric settings and brooding atmosphere found in both stories create a sense of mystery and intrigue. With their exploration of the darker side of human nature and their enduring impact, Wuthering Heights and Grim Fandango are masterpieces that engage their audience with haunting narratives. (Kennie M)
The Iowa Press-Citizen recommends things to see in Iowa City this weekend:
Brontë: The World Without
This play follows the three Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, during the period in which they wrote masterpieces such as "Jane Eyre," "Wuthering Heights," and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" and the hardships they faced, from personal strife to being ambitious women in the 1800s. Originally premiered in Canada, the show is making its American debut at the Riverside Theatre, with three shows happening this weekend. On Dec. 9, following the 7:30 p.m. performance, there will be a talk with the director, Juliana Frey-Méndez, and scenic and production designer, Kaelen Novak, and others about the design process and bringing this play to Iowa City. (Jessica Rish)
Ridgefield's Hamlethub interviews Katie Burton, strategic storytelling at Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center:
KAD: Favorite book
K.B.: Depending on my mood, it’s either Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. But there are a lot of books that I hold close to my heart, that have shaped/inspired/comforted/excited/challenged me at different points in my life.
Impact Nottingham  talks about love triangles:
Love triangles are one of the most popular and yet most divisive tropes used in media today. We’re all familiar with the general idea – one character, often a woman, forced to choose between two love interests. This is by no means a new idea – the love triangle has been a reoccurring trope in literature for centuries, with some of the most notable examples being F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. (Abigel Lancaster)
The Stage reviews a production of Cinderella in Derby:
 This inventive and magical production stays true to the tale’s spirit, while finding fresh ways to present it, placing the story in the Derbyshire of the 1840s and giving it a rustic Regency spin, as if Jane Austen or the Brontës had reinterpreted it. (Chris Bartlett)
Aquí Madrid (Spain) presents De Viva Voz. Conferencias by Carmen Martín Gaite:
Una de las conferencias que se incluyen es la dedicada a «La mujer en la literatura», donde analiza la obra de Virginia Woolf, Emily Brontë, Rosa Chacel o Clarice Lispector y critica los controles ejercidos sobre la mujer a lo largo de la Historia. (Francisco R. Pastoriza) (Translation)
Mujeres a Seguir (Spain) gives a, let's put it mildly, controversial statement about Wuthering Heights:
Al hilo de estas conversaciones recordé una charla que mantuvieron, en la Biblioteca Municipal de Bidebarrieta, las escritoras Cristina Morales y Aixa de la Cruz. Esta última comentaba que le gustaría reescribir Cumbres borrascosas, una novela que se cuenta entre sus predilectas pero que está llenas de errores (problemas de ritmo, de construcción) que hoy no se cometerían debido al tiempo que ha pasado (esto es, al tipo de lector, inevitablemente distinto, que somos, aunque esto no lo dice Aixa, sino yo) y a la sofisticación de las técnicas narrativas. (Elvira Navarro) (Translation)
Ok Diario (in Spanish) and books for Christmas gifts:
Cumbres borrascosas’, Emily Brönte (sic)(Austral Singular)
Es uno de los grandes libros de la ficción clásica, y la única novela de Emily Brönte (sic), que falleció muy joven, dejando solo esta obra. Se publicó en 1847, un año antes de su fallecimiento… Y se ha leído por todo el mundo y se sigue leyendo, porque es un libro que no se deja de regalar. Así describe la noeva la editorial: «Esta obra es una larga y extraordinaria descripción de los actos y problemas psicológicos de unos seres locos o perversos que arrastran una existencia mísera y maléfica. Con ellos, su autora nos ofrece una visión de estos personajes que actúan demoníacamente por aridez protestante que se diluye en todas y en cada una de sus páginas». (Paloma Herce) (Translation)

RDT.Today alerts to the last days of the exhibition Fragrant Words, ending on December 10. KultuNews (Germany) publishes some pictures of the ongoing Jane Eyre ballet in Hamburg. Kreiszeitung (Germany) mentions the pseudonyms of the Brontës. EyreBuds have posted a new episode of their podcast now discussing the Jane Eyre 1972 Czech TV adaptation.

2:46 am by M. in , ,    No comments
A couple of new scholarly Brontë appearances:
Bansari Mitra, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston
Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023

Charlotte Brontë’s heroine, Jane Eyre, has a lively verbal skirmish here with the hero, Mr. Rochester. She speaks boldly to him because they can think along the same lines, whereas Mrs. Fairfax, the housekeeper, is at a loss. Her prosaic simplicity contrasts sharply with Rochester’s quick perception of Jane, because he is the only person who detects an unearthly quality in her, “fairy-born and human-bred.” Mrs. Fairfax cannot fathom these depths in her. The lack of empathy between a maternal figure and Jane creates the central conflict in the novel. This passage gives us a clue to the theme of inadequate mothers.
And a review of the short film The Death of Anne Brontë
Paloma Ríos Prieto
Babel–AFIAL: Aspectos de Filoloxía Inglesa e Alemá, No 32 (2023 ), pp 137-142

Tuesday, December 05, 2023

Tuesday, December 05, 2023 7:55 am by Cristina in , , , , ,    No comments
In its series of House Museums, Financial Times features the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
When the American Indie girl band boygenius played two sold-out shows in Halifax, West Yorkshire, back in August, they spent their free day in nearby Haworth visiting the Brontë Parsonage. The museum’s Instagram account shared a picture of the band’s three musicians — Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker — posing in front of a statue of the three Brontë sisters, and received more than 60,000 likes, quite a jump from closer to 100 for most of their posts.
The online enthusiasm for these 21st-century “sad girls” at the home of the original sad girls demonstrates the international magnetism of the Brontë Parsonage. The mythical status of Charlotte, Emily and Anne combines serious engagement with their literary work and passionate obsession with their doomed, eccentric and all-too-short lives.
Headstrong romantics everywhere continue to find solace in their jubilant strangeness and the brilliance of their stories. They have a particular resonance with the angsty, clever-but-heartbroken vibe of 2020s heroines, such as those in Greta Gerwig’s films or Sally Rooney’s books. 
The history of the Brontë Parsonage is a story of treasure hunting as much as conservation, like many house museums in Britain that endured varying levels of fortune between the death of their famous residents and their reincarnation as museums. The Parsonage was owned by the local parish church while the Brontës lived there, and remained so in 1861 after the death of their father Patrick Brontë, who outlived all of his children. Most of the furnishings and personal effects of the home were auctioned off.
The Brontë Society was founded in 1893 to track the dissemination of all this Brontëana, as it is known, and to maintain the fame and myth of the Brontë sisters. In 1928, when the parish put the parsonage up for sale, the society bought it and the museum we know today was established. In the almost-century since, the Brontë Society and Parsonage Museum have worked tirelessly to locate items and bring them home.
Visiting the house now, you are greeted by a mixture of objects actually owned by a Brontë and others that are very similar to what they would have had. The house feels full and lived in, with papers scattered across the dining table and a shawl flung over the arm of a sofa (a sofa in the exact spot and nearly exactly like the sofa upon which Emily breathed her last). It feels as if the family could have just stepped out on to the moors — because, of course, the windswept, rugged setting high on a hill is half the appeal of the place.
The modern extension to the museum houses the real relics: manuscripts, first editions and little souvenirs like gloves, brooches, pens and other items cherished for their connection to the Brontës. The level of obsession is staggering, even for someone like me, who legally changed my middle name to Jane in honour of Jane Eyre when I was 12 (really).
The Parsonage remains a place of pilgrimage for adherents of the Brontë cult. There is a sense of spiritual camaraderie among visitors and staff, with their shared reverence for the three sisters who put Brontë Country on the map — and who made melodrama mainstream. (Eliza Goodpasture)
The Mary Sue lists 'Five Classic Stories (and Their Retellings) That Challenge the Patriarchy' including
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847) 
My tweenage heart thrilled to Jane Eyre’s extravagant emotions and Gothic drama. I identified with outcast, powerless orphan Jane (never mind that I had two living parents and no need to make my living as a governess), who makes a passionate case for her own equality. “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?” she demands of her aristocratic employer Rochester. “You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you—and full as much heart!” Heady stuff.
After Rochester’s disastrous first marriage comes to light on their wedding day, Jane resists his attempts to make her his mistress. She stands against his wealth and his will until, after privations and visions and possibly divine intervention, she is ultimately triumphant. 
It took Jean Rhys’s postcolonial prequel, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), to make me see how Jane’s happy ending comes at the expense of Rochester’s Creole first wife, the “madwoman” in the attic. The tragic ending is dictated by the events to come. By giving voice to Antoinette (renamed Bertha by her husband, in a heartless erasure of her identity), Rhys illuminates not only her struggles in a white, patriarchal society but Jane and Rochester’s own power dynamic. (Virginia Kantra)
Writer Francisco Sánchez also mentions the novels in Diario Siglo XXI (Spain).
Más adelante conocí la novela postmoderna y fue toda una revelación. Destacaría Fatherland de Robert Harris, que fue mi mayor inspiración para escribir Vae Victis. También nombraría Waterland de Graham Swift, Wide Sargasso Sea de Jean Rhys, reescritura de la famosa novela de Charlotte Brontë Jane Eyre. (Eva Fraile Rodríguez) (Translation)
A contributor to The Bubble discusses 'The dark reality of a white (saviourist) Christmas':
While the postcolonial conversation has only recently received due attention, there are indeed nuanced discussions of missionary work in literature, as seen in the disillusionment experienced by the heroines of both ‘The Color Purple’ and ‘Jane Eyre’ when faced with missionary work. While in both novels, missionary work is initially presented as a viable and rewarding form of moral employment, there is indeed a darker reality which underpins this glorified moral concept. (Annabel Clancy)
A contributor to The MIT Press Reader reminisces about reading Jane Eyre for the first time.
Certainly I wasn’t to find myself in a novel until several years later, when I read “Jane Eyre” for the first time. The class was divided, in a way I hope would not be sanctioned now, by gender, and all the boys were assigned Robert Cormier’s “The Chocolate War” and the girls got to read Brontë, and I opted for the latter. And there is still no scene in all of literature where I see myself as clearly as in the opening pages of “Jane Eyre,” as she sits in the windowseat, reading about birds. I never much cared about Rochester or Bertha or all the grand romance of the central narrative. I just liked the story of a lonely child who found solace in reading, and very much wanted Jane and Helen Burns to find a lasting love. (Timothy C. Baker)
Hamburger Abendblatt (Germany) reviews the performances of Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre ballet in Hamburg. Finally, an alert from the Brontë Parsonage Museum: 

Join curator Sarah Laycock for an evening exploring some of the Museum's most precious treasures. In this intimate event, you will experience a rare glimpse behind the scenes at the Museum Library, getting a closer look at some of the most precious treasures from the collection, personally selected by curator Sarah Laycock. With almost 20 years' experience working with the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Sarah will share personal insight into the chosen items and reveal the secrets of working with our world-class Designated collection. Tickets include a glass of sherry on arrival and the opportunity to enjoy the quiet magic of Haworth Parsonage dressed for the Christmas season.
An alert for today, November 5 in London. The launch of the book Jane Eyre on Social Media by Sarah Day & Claire McGowan:
Somers Gallery
5th Dec 2023
Somers Gallery
London
NW1 1HJ
UNITED KINGDOM

Monday, December 04, 2023

Monday, December 04, 2023 7:39 am by Cristina in , , , , ,    No comments
The Daily Iowan features the play Brontë: The World Without.
The show explores the complicated and heartfelt relationships between the three famous Brontë sisters, as well as how their growing passion for novel writing changes their otherwise simple lives over three years.
“My favorite part was the comradery. I don’t have sisters, so getting to have them for this was really fun,” Lauren Baker, who brilliantly portrayed Emily Brontë, said. “And then for Emily, she was such a public recluse — to be able to show what her inner life could [was] really cool.”
Emily Brontë was best known for her novel “Wuthering Heights,” which was published in 1847 under the pen name of Ellis Bell. In the play, Emily is bothered by the controversial reception of both her novel and its radical main character, Heathcliff.
“A lot of the script is pretty accurate to their [the sisters] lives. We had an amazing dramaturg who knew so much about the Brontë family. Having that information to inform us about their relationships was really exciting,” Katie Gucik, who played Charlotte Brontë, added.
Charlotte Brontë first gained fame after the publication of her novel “Jane Eyre,” which became popular for its time. The oldest Brontë sister is portrayed as caring deeply for her family, but she is at the same time envied by her sisters for her vastly successful novel and the raving reviews that accompany it.
And, of course, the Brontë trio would not be complete without the youngest sister, Anne Brontë. Brought to life by Mackenzie Elsbecker, Anne is desperate to make a strong impact on the world around her. Through her two novels, “Agnes Grey” and “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,” Anne discusses the social inequity that existed during their time.
“I like bringing these three sisters to life. I feel like this play, in a way, gives them a chance to be heard. And I also liked just playing and spinning around,” Elsbecker said.
All three actresses brought passion and heart to their portrayals of their respective Brontë sister. Each character seemed unique and special in her own way. During the play, the audience was invited to laugh and cry along with the Brontë sisters as they experienced the most successful — and arguably the most difficult — years of their lives. (Riley Dunn)
According to MovieWeb, the best Wuthering Heights screen adaptation is Andrea Arnold's.
What most adaptations get wrong is that Wuthering Heights isn't a love story: it's a story about hatred and despair. Besides the narrators, who are merely bystanders in the narrative, each and every character in the novel is despicable and difficult to feel sorry for. Arnold understands that, and turns Brontë's story into a harrowing portrait of guilt and deteriorating love through the eyes of the tormented Heathcliff. [...]
Enough of the sophisticated setting and passionate takes on Heathcliff and Cathy's failed romance — Arnold is the first to give a Wuthering Heights adaptation the bleak and hopeless atmosphere the original story deserves. There's a common misconception that the literary classic is primarily a love story, and its upsetting, melancholic elements belong to a secondary narrative. However, there's a clear reason why Heathcliff and Cathy's romance comes to an end in the middle of the novel; this is a story of revenge, and it all starts with the period in life that defines all of us: childhood. [...]
Arnold conducts Wuthering Heights around Heathcliff's shattered psyche, and for the first time after so many adaptations, the decision to cut the book's latter half makes sense with her artistic vision. Her version is all about the moments that define Heathcliff, ending just as his inescapable bitterness begins to flourish in the aftermath of Cathy's death. It's a common thing among readers to start the novel sympathizing and rooting for Heathcliff, yet there's no escape from the monster he becomes.
Arnold's movie could as well be called "sympathy for the devil," as it scavenges for every little bit of humanity in Heathcliff's tormented soul. However, the indie film does a great job of showing these emotions fading away and giving in to anger in the final moments, hinting just about enough at the desolation that comes next. (Arthur Goyaz)
The Daily Pennsylvanian says it's time for the Kelly Writers House to host its annual Edible Books Contest and reminds us of the fact that,
Notable submissions in prior years have been “Jane Pear,” a simple pear with a bonnet nudging Charlotte Brontë's “Jane Eyre,” and “Fifty Shades of Earl Grey," which was 50 cups of Earl Grey tea brewed to different shades of gray based on E. L. James' "Fifty Shades of Grey." (Sadiqua Khan)
Given that December 2nd marked the anniversary of the death of Arthur Bell Nicholls in 1906, AnneBrontë.org shares some key moments of his life with and without Charlotte.
12:30 am by M. in ,    No comments
Boek & Film
Emily; serie B
04-12-2023, 19:30 - 22.30 h
Locatie: Figi Bioscoop, Het Rond 2, Zeist

The Figi Bioscoop in Zeist, Netherlands is hosting a special screening of the film “Emily” on December 4, 2023, from 19:30 to approximately 22:30. This event is part of the “Boek & Film” series B.

“Emily” is a modern British costume drama that explores the life of Emily Brontë, one of history’s most provocative writers. The film features rising talent Emma Mackey in the lead role and is directed by actress Frances O’Connor in her directorial debut.

Film scholar, writer, and program maker Gerlinda Heywegen will provide an introduction, discussing the book, the writer, the film, and its creators. This will set the stage for the audience, providing context and enhancing the viewing experience.

After the film, attendees will have the opportunity to discuss and exchange their experiences. This interactive session promises to foster interesting conversations and deepen the understanding of the film

Each participant will also receive an informative guide about the film via email beforehand, further enriching their experience.

Written by GPT4, using Literair Zeist and De Nieuwsbode.

Sunday, December 03, 2023

The Telegraph & Argus walks the Brontë Way with Marje Wilson, author of The Brontë Way:
Think of the Brontës and most people cast their minds to Haworth.
In 1820, Patrick Brontë was appointed incumbent of St Michael and All Angels' Church, Haworth, and arrived at the parsonage with his wife Maria and six children
It was the family home for the rest of their lives, and its wild moorland setting had a profound influence on the writing of sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne.
Yet in a nearby village stands a building that, it could be argued, played a far more vital role in the history of the Brontës.
Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily and Anne were born at Thornton Parsonage on Market Street, Thornton. The Brontë Birthplace, as it is known, bears a blue plaque in their honor and is among a number of Brontë-associated landmarks featured in the second, updated edition of The Brontë Way by Marje Wilson of Heaton.
The Brontë Way is a long-distance footpath of some 69km or 43 miles from Oakwell Hall, Birstall, to Gawthorpe Hall in the Lancashire town of Padiham.
It links together a variety of places which played a part in the lives and literary productions of the Brontë family, writes Marje, ‘embracing paths which must have been used by the Reverend Patrick Brontë as he went about his ministry and others used by his daughters when they were visiting friends or taking walks in the countryside which inspired their novels.’ (Read more) (Helen Mead)
In The Big Issue, CA Castle, author of the Brontë derivative The Manor House Governess, makes a list of gothic mysteries including:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
This Victorian novel follows the titular character’s journey through class, religious and sexual struggles. Jane gets her fairy-tale-like ending, and the novel is considered one of the most famous romances ever to be written. 
Libreriamo (Italy) highlights the poem Love and Friendship by Emily Brontë:
Nella magica poesia “Amore e amicizia” ci offre una rappresentazione chiara delle emozioni naturali che regolano i due tipi di relazione attraverso una metafora mediata da due piante che vivono in natura.
L’autrice di Cime tempestose paragona l’amore a una rosa canina: splendida, ma caduca. L’amicizia, invece, è un agrifoglio che forse sarà meno profumata, ma è sempreverde. (Translation)
El Mundo (Spain) interviews the writer Guillaume Musso:
Su revelación ocurrió cuando tenía 11 años. Era Navidad y recuerda que llovía mucho. Buscando en la librería de su madre, que era bibliotecaria, encontró un tomo que le llamó la atención: Cumbres borrascosas, de Emilie (sic) Brontë. "Empecé a leer y no pude parar, tuve la sensación de que era libre, que leía algo prohibido, esa experiencia me marcó, para mí fue una revelación. La he releído varias veces. Es una obra que puedes leer en distintos momentos de tu vida y el mensaje es distinto porque tiene varias capas. Escribe sobre sentimientos muy potentes. Para mí es un objeto de fascinación cómo se pueden describir destinos tan singulares". (Raquel Villaécija) (Translation)
ctxt (in Spanish) interviews the essayist  Antonio Ballesteros González:
Esther Peñas: Salvo en Cumbres borrascosas, ¿el paisaje como elemento terrorífico en las ficciones fantásticas victorianas deja paso a la intimidad de las casas o castillos para que el miedo se manifieste?
A.B.G.: (...) . Pero, contestando a tu pregunta, el paisaje fue siempre en la literatura gótica un elemento de alienación y terror cuando se utiliza para dichos fines. No solo Emily Brontë, sino también otros muchos artífices de la pluma, tanto masculinos como femeninos, utilizaron el paisaje como factor inquietante y desasosegante (Translation)
The Objective (in Spanish) talks about the writer Pilar Adón:
Abismada en Cumbres borrascosas o Jane Eyre se convirtió en una lectora vocacional. «A partir de ahí, de tanto leer, como consecuencia natural, me salía escribir». Desde entonces, «es imposible que la literatura no esté presente en mi vida. Sé que a algunas personas les puede parecer muy raro, pero a veces pienso Madame Bovary o Anna Karenina son tan reales como primos o vecinos que existen de verdad. De hecho, las conozco mejor a ellas». (Ángel Peña) (Translation)
TFO (in French) reviews the novel Jaz by Michèle Vinet:
Quant à Vinet, elle ne se gêne pas à faire allusion à l’oeuvre Les Hauts de Hurlevent de Emily Brontë ou Le Rouge et le Noir de Stendhal, des romans qui ont séduit mon adolescence. (Monia Mizagh) (Translation)

La Arena (Argentina) publishes an excerpt from the novel Te digo la verdad by G. Suárez, where Wuthering Heights is explictly mentioned. Cosmopolitan (Spain) also mentions a quote by Wuthering Heights among a list of famous film quotes. Jurnallul (Romania) lists classic books, including Jane Eyre.  The Brontë pseudonyms are mentioned in Fehmarn24 (Germany). The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) quotes Anne Brontë in an article about corruption. Seldon's Blog publishes a photo gallery of Jane Eyre 1970.

12:41 am by M. in ,    No comments
The Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre ballet gets a continental premiere in Hamburg, Germany:
Ballet by Cathy Marston
Staatsoper Hamburg
December 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 19.30 February 2024 10,15,17, 19.30 h
July 2024 6, 19.30 h
 
Music: Philip Feeney, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Fanny Hensel and Franz Schubert

Choreography and Direction: Cathy Marston

Scenario: Cathy Marston and Patrick Kinmonth
Set and Costumes: Patrick Kinmonth
Lighting Design: David Finn
Staged by: Daniel de Andrade, Christelle Horna, David Nixon and Matthew Topliss

with Ida Praetorius  Karen Azatyan, Ana Torrequebrada,  Christopher Evans, Olivia Betteridge, Charlotte Larzelere,  Priscilla Tselikova, Matias Oberlin,  Greta Jörgens, Silvia Azzoni, Anna Laudere, Ida Stempelmann.
Conductor: Nathan Brock, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg.

"I grew up on literature. Both of my parents were English teachers and we read a lot." With this background and dance training in Cambridge and London, Cathy Martson developed into a distinctive choreographer who is celebrated worldwide, not least for her literary ballets. John Neumeier has invited her version of "Jane Eyre" based on the classic novel by Charlotte Brontë for the penultimate premiere of his artistic directorship. The Times of London raved about Northern Ballet's 2016 premiere, "beautifully crafted and moving … imbued with emotional veracity." In 2019, the ballet was exported to the U.S. and staged at both the American Ballet Theater (New York) and the Joffrey Ballet (Chicago). It will celebrate its German premiere with the Hamburg Ballet in 2023.
The leading dancer is interviewed on NDR:
Anina Pommerenke: Frau Praetorius, wann sind Sie "Jane Eyre" das erste Mal begegnet?
Ida Praetorius: Tatsächlich haben Freunde von mir bereits mit Cathy Marston an "Jane Eyre" gearbeitet, also habe ich vor einigen Jahren das erste Mal von ihrer "Jane Eyre" gehört. Ich weiß, dass Cathy das Ballett ursprünglich 2016 für das Northern Ballett konzipiert hat. Es wurde aber auch in den USA, beim American Ballet Theater in New York und beim Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, einstudiert. Damals habe ich mit meinen Freunden über das Projekt gesprochen. Ich habe die Inszenierung zu diesem Zeitpunkt allerdings nicht gesehen. Es ist daher sehr besonders, dass ich die Rolle nun selbst tanzen darf.

A.P.: Was bedeutet Ihnen "Jane Eyre"?
Praetorius: Ich finde Jane als Charakter wirklich sehr inspirierend. Sie ist sehr stark, ein Mädchen, das zu einer Frau heranwächst. Mein Anspruch ist, dieser starken Figur gerecht zu werden. Als ich zum ersten Mal das Buch gelesen habe, war mir schon nach ein paar Seiten klar, dass ich sie wirklich sehr gerne mag. Es ist also ein Geschenk, dass ich sie porträtieren darf. Gleichzeitig ist es natürlich auch eine große Herausforderung. Ich merke, dass ich dabei eine große Verantwortung trage. Eine Ikone zu verkörpern ist auch immer ein bisschen einschüchternd. Schließlich werden viele Menschen auch ihre eigene Interpretation und Vorstellung von Jane Eyre haben, auch wenn
sie ein fiktiver Charakter ist. Obwohl der Roman bereits über 150 Jahre alt ist, ist er immer noch so aktuell und relevant. Auch ich als 30-jährige Frau im Jahr 2023 kann mich mit Jane Eyre identifizieren. Das ist etwas sehr Besonderes.

A.P,; Haben Sie eine Lieblingsstelle im Buch?
Praetorius: Da gibt es viele. Was mich aber besonders beeindruckt ist ihre Stärke, dass sie sich nicht selbst bemitleidet. Dabei macht sie ja wirklich einiges durch. Sie gibt nicht auf und sie trifft am Ende ihre eigenen Entscheidungen. In der Choreografie gefällt mir eine Szene am Ende, in der Rochester bereits blind ist - das war spannend daran zu arbeiten. Ich finde, dass es ein sehr berührender Moment ist. (Translation)

Further information in this previous article in NDR